Method of preparing goodyear welt insoles



May 12, 1953 A. A. KATZ METHOD OF PREPARING GOODYEAR WELT INSOLES Filed Jan. 29, 1952 Patented May 12, 1953 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE METHOD OF PREPARING GOODYEAR WELT INSOLES 8 Claims.

x This invention pertains to the manufacture of footwear of the Goodyear welt type, and more especially to a method of preparing insoles for use in such footwear.

Foot comfort demands longitudinal flexibility in the shoe bottom, and shoe manufacturers have long sought for constructions or procedures whereby a high degree of flexibility might be attained. However, when the shoe bottom com prises two or more superimposed sole elements, for example, an insole and outer sole, it is very diflicult to obtain an ideal degree of flexibility. The most flexible shoe (aside from true moccasins) has been the turn shoe, which has no insole, the outer sole being lasted directly to the upper. While turn shoes, especially for womens wear, have in the past constituted a substantial percentage of the total number of shoes manufactured, the difficulties incident to the making of such shoes, and in particular the necessity for highly skilled hand labor, has discouraged the making of such shoes in recent years, so that the turn shoe process has been relegated largely to the manufacture of slippers or similar soft and generally shapeless articles of footwear.

Next to the turn shoe in flexibility is the Goodyear welt shoe, wherein the outer sole is connected to the insole by a flexible welt strip, which allows a, substantial relative motion of the insole and outer sole, thus favoring flexibility.

However, the Goodyear welt insole must have a sewing ribto receive the inseam or welt-attaching stitches. In the earlier days of the Goodyear welt process, the insole was usually made of leather and was channeled to provide a lip or lips, which could be turned up to form the sewing rib, but this method required the use of insole stock of substantial thickness and concomitant stiffness. Later, in the effort to obtain a thinner and more flexible insole (and incidentally a cheaper insole), it was proposed to secure a separate rib-forming element to a flat insole blank, so that it was no longer necessary to channel the insole material. A method of providing a flat insole blank with a sewing rib is disclosed, for example, in the patents to Poole, 1,137,282, April 27, 1915, and 1,244,891, October 30, 1917. By following this procedure, it should be possible, in theory at least, to apply a sewing rib to an insole blank of any degree of thinness, but since the machine operation of uniting the rib to the flat blank (for example, as described in the above patents to Poole) involves a progressive feeding or advance of the work, it is necessary that the insole blank have a certain degree of stiffness to prevent it from puckering or buckling as it is advanced. Thus there is a minimum thickness of blank stock necessary to the practical manufacture of insoles according to this prior method, and consequently the maximum obtainable flexibility may be less than that which would be desirable in any given case. However, except for these practical limitations, the insole blank might, for example, be of paper thickness (if possessing a substantial degree of toughness), since in a completed Goodyear welt shoe, the insole has little structural utility.

The present invention has for its principal object the provision of a method of preparing Goodyear welt insoles whereby it becomes possible to use insole material which is substantially devoid of inherent stiffness, and which may be as thin as desired. For example, the selected insole material may be of cloth, plastic sheeting, sheepskin or other flexible sheet material, usually much cheaper than the leather commonly employed as insole stock. Other and further objects and advantages of the invention will be pointed out in the following more detailed description, and by reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of an insole blank according to the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a plan view of a reinforce member employed in the practice of the present invention;

- Fig. 4 is a longitudinal section on the line 4-4 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a plan view showing the insole blank and reinforce member assembled in accordance with the present invention in preparation for the attachment of the sewing rib;

Fig. 6 is a longitudinal section on the line 6-6 of Fig. 5;

Fig. '7 is a fragmentary diagrammatic vertical section illustrating the step of applying the ribforming material to the insole blank;

Fig. 8 is a plan view of the assembled blank and reinforce member, with the ribbing attached to the exposed surface of the blank;

Fig. 9 is a longitudinal section on the line 9-9 of Fig. 8; I

Fig. 10 is a plan view of the blank with its attached ribbing after the removal of the reinforce member;

Fig. 11 is a section on the line I l--I l of Fig. 10; and

Fig. 12 is a transverse section on the line I 2-42 of.Fig.,1 1.

insoles, which comprises as steps providing a reinforce member of stiff sheet material of the size and contour of the insole which is to be made, providing an insole blank of thin, flexible material of a size and contour substantially like that of the reinforce member, placing the blank and reinforce member in registry and temporarily uniting them by means of adhesive, folding a flat strip of flexible material, initially separate from and independent of the insole blank, to form a sewing rib While progressively unitin the strip to the exposed surface of the insole blank, and thereafter removing the reinforce member from the blank.

That method of preparing Goodyear Welt insoles, which comprises as steps providing a reinforce member of stiff sheet material having parallel, opposite faces and which is of the size and contour oi." the insole which is to be made, providing an insole blank of thin, flexible material of size and contour substantially like that of the reinforce member, placing the blank and reinforce member in registry and temporarily uniting them by means of adhesive binders, progressively laying a core strip in contact with the exposed surface of the insole blank while concomitantly folding a covering strip, initially separate from and independent of the blank, about the core and uniting the margins of the covering strip to the insole blank, thereby to form a sewing rib, and thereafter removing the reinforce member from the blank.

4. That method of preparing Goodyear welt insoles which comprises as steps, forming a structure, capable of being handled as a unit, by

applying to one face of a thin, normally very pliable insole blank, temporary stiffening means, not substantially exceeding two irons in thickness, progressively securing to the other face of the blank, while the latter is stiffened by assoelation with said stiffening means, a sewing rib which is initially separate from and independent from the blank, and, after the rib is complete,

removing said stifiening means to restore the lank to its initial pliability.

5. That method of making an insole having a sewing rib which comprises as steps, providing an insole blank of thin, flexible material, temporarily applying to one face of said blank a thin layer of stififening material of substantially uniform thickness and whose edge registers with that of the blank, attaching, to the opposite face of said blank, rib-forming material which is initially separate from and independent of the blank, beginning at a selected point near one edge of the blank and causing the point of attachment to progress, following the contour of the blank, until the rib is completed, and, after 6 so attaching the rib-forming material, removing the layer of stiffening material.

6. That method of making an insole having a sewing rib which comprises as steps providing an insole blank of thin, flexible material of uniform thickness, temporarily attaching to one face of the blank a stiifener element, attaching to the other face of the blank rib-forming material, beginning at a selected point near one edge or blank and causing the point of attachment to progress, following the contour of the blank until the rib is completed, and after the rib is complete removing the stiffener element.

7. That method of making a Goodyear-type insole which comprises as steps providing a singleply insole blank of thin, flexible material, providing stiffener element of sheet material and of a and contour like that of the blank, placing the blank and stiffener element in registry with one face of the blank in contact with ener element, temporarily uniting the ..r and stiffener element, attaching, to the exposed face of the blank, rib-forming material which is initially separate from and independent oi the blank, beginning at a selected point near one edge of the blank and causing the point of attachment to progress following the contour of the blank until the rib is complete, and after completion of the rib separating the stifiener element from the insole.

8. That method of making a Goodyear-type insole which comprises as steps, forming a freely movable unit, of a weight not substantially exseeding that of a conventional Goodyear insole and which is capable of being handled like such a conventional Goodyear insole, by temporarily stifiening a thin, normally very pliable insole blank by means which does not increase the thickness of said blank by substantially more than two irons, attaching to the blank, rib-forming material which is initially separate from and independent of the blank, beginning at a selected point near one edge of the blank and causing the point of attachment to progress following the contour of the blank until the rib is complete, and after completion of the rib, restoring the blank substantially to its initial pliability.

ABRAHAM A. KATZ.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,296,894 Winslow Mar. 11, 1919 1,303,371 Ferguson May 20, 1919 1,382,818 Bunker et a1 Jan. 28, 1921 1,667,951 Sabin et a1 May 1, 1928 2,493,207 Paulsen Jan. 3, 1950 

